Snapshots
by Gilari
Summary: Snapshots of McGee and Abby's life together. Based on 40 prompts and in no particular order. Mostly fluffy to start with, but later on we'll see. McGee/Abby with hints of others.
1. Speed

_This is just a bunch of drabbles based on 40 prompts that I pulled from somewhere (I don't actually remember where now) and decided to write stories for. I've never done a list of prompts before, so I thought it would be a challenge. They are snapshots of McGee and Abby's life together, in no apparent order. Just thrown together every which way as the mood strikes me. Most are going to be fluff, but some might be darker, some angst, some humour, some team, a little of everything. _

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Prompt: Speed

Abby bounced up to McGee's sports car, grinning as she slid into the driver's seat.

"Oh, no," McGee said. "No, no, no. It's my car. _I'm_ driving."

Abby ignored him, placing her hands on the steering wheel and looking at him expectantly.

"Abby…" He said warningly.

She looked up at him with her big dark eyes filled with expectation. It was a look McGee had never been able to resist. He tried now, but he could already feel himself being suckered in.

"Please, Timmy?"

"But, Abs," he whined. "It's my new car."

"I'm not going to hurt it, McGee," Abby reminded him. "I'm not Ziva. And you'll be here the whole time. Please?"

"Abby…."

A flash of anger came into Abby's green eyes.

"If you're doubting my driving skills, I've had my license since I was sixteen, and you of all people should know how long ago that was," she snapped. "Now gimmie the keys." She held out her hand for them.

McGee scowled.

"You drive a hearse," he reminded her.

"So?" Abby asked impatiently.

"So? That thing's an ox. This is a… hummingbird."

"I'm not going to even scratch it, McGee," she promised. "I just want to drive it."

"But… but…" McGee sputtered. But Abby could see that she was winning the battle. She extended her hand again, and gave him a winning smile.

With a resigned sigh, McGee handed over the keys, and walked around the car to get into the passenger seat.

"Just please be careful," he begged.

"What's with you, McGee? You never used to be so particular with your stuff," Abby complained.

"That was before you cut a patch out of my Armani jacket," McGee grumbled.

Abby put thee key in the ignition and gunned the engines, delight with the powerful machine at her fingertips. She slid out of the parking space and began to gain speed as she got onto the road.

"Not so fast!" McGee protested.

"What's the point in having a sports car if you can't go fast?" Abby asked. A manic grin was beginning to spread over her face.

McGee buried his face in his hands.

"I'm in for it, aren't I?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yup," said Abby. "You're in for it. I feel the need."

McGee looked up at her, surprised at her declaration.

"The need?" he asked.

"I feel the need – the need for speed!"

McGee groaned.

"I walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Yup," said Abby, putting her foot on the gas.


	2. Hair

Prompt: Hair

"Why do you always keep your hair up?" McGee asked suddenly.

Abby looked up, surprised.

"What?"

"Why do you always keep your hair up?" McGee repeated, playing with the end of a pigtail. "Not that I don't love it up, but why do you?"

Abby looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It gets in the way," she replied, finally. "When I'm working, with my equipment and all the forensics stuff I have to do. It would be _so _embarrassing if my samples got contaminated because my hair dropped in. Besides, it drops in my eyes and I can't see. Why? Don't you like it?"

McGee smiled.

"I do like it. It makes you look fun and bouncy. But I like it down too."

Abby pulled the elastics out of her hair, shaking her head so that the silky black locks went everywhere. She looked up at McGee through the messy tangle that she had just created.

"Better?" she asked.

McGee laughed at this. He came to sit beside her on the floor, where she had been playing with Jethro. He ran his fingers through the silky mess, brushing it away from her face.

"Only when I can see your beautiful eyes as well," he said. Using his fingers, he combed her hair back from her face and down so it lay straight.

"You look more relaxed when it's down. I like it down better, I think," he commented.

Abby looked at his curiously.

"Why?" she asked.

"So I can run my fingers through it," he replied, stroking her hair gently.

Abby laid her head on his lap, humming with pleasure.

"Don't tell anyone, but I _love_ when people play with my hair," she said, her eyes already drifting shut.

McGee laughed, and Abby felt it rumble in his chest.

"I won't tell anyone, Abs. I don't want anyone playing with your hair but me," he replied, working his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp.

Abby hummed with pleasure.

"That feels _so_ nice," she said.

McGee grinned.

"I'll so it more often then."

"Yes _please." _

They sat in silence for a long time, McGee weaving his fingers in and out of Abby's hair absentmindedly.

"Do you really like it down that much?" Abby asked contemplatively, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. It makes you look softer. Sweeter."

"Ok," Abby decided, "Then I'll wear it down all the time when we're home, how bout that?"

McGee smiled, his fingers still entwined in Abby's silky tresses.

"Yeah. That would be nice," he said.


	3. Clouds

Prompt: Clouds

"What about that one?"

"Camel."

"A camel with no humps?" Abby asked, not sounding too impressed.

"There's a hump! A little one. See? Right on top there."

"That's the neck! It's more like a humpless camel."

McGee shrugged.

"A horse then. A horse with really big feet and a hump on it's neck."

"What would happen if a camel and a horse had babies," Abby giggled.

McGee nodded.

"Yeah, something like that."

He shifted so he was lying more comfortably on the duvet. Abby waited until he was finished moving, then settled back down beside him, her head just lightly touching his shoulder.

"What about that one?" she asked, pointing.

"A dragon," McGee decided, after a moment of consideration.

"A dragon?"

"Yeah. You can see the wings and the long tail. Look, he's even breathing a puff of smoke!" McGee pointed them out.

"Oh, look!" Abby squealed. "You can see the castle he's guarding, just there beside him. It has turrets and flags flying in the wind, and on that high tower there's a princess,"

McGee looked carefully.

"I don't think the princess is up there," he said.

"Why not?"

"I think she fell to earth, and landed right about… here,"

Abby rolled her eyes, pleased nonetheless.

"That is so corny, McGee!" she laughed.

McGee smiled.

"I know."

"You know, I used to see castles in the clouds all the time," Abby confessed. "I used to lie on my back and dream up floating islands where girls lived in isolated towers, and could never come out because of curses."

"Naturally your dream world had curses," McGee teased.

Abby laughed.

"Of course. The Princess also rescued herself, and didn't need a prince."

McGee pouted.

"No need for a prince at all?" he asked.

Abby propped herself up on her elbow so that she could look at him.

"Well, maybe to talk to. But they didn't need them for rescuing."

"I agree," McGee said. "Who wants a princess that can't help herself."

"Exactly."

Abby slid back down onto the bed, and snuggled under McGee's arm.

"What about that one?" she asked, pointing.

McGee looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Gibbs," he said.

"Gibbs?" Abby sputtered.

"Sure. Look, there's a hand gripping his coffee. And a grimace on his face."

Abby giggled.

"I'm telling him you said that."

McGee just tightened his arm around her shoulders and held her closer.

They both looked up, peering at the clouds as they drifted by.

"This is fun," McGee said, breaking the silence. "We can watch the clouds even in the winter."

Abby smirked.

"I _told_ you a huge skylight in the bedroom was a good idea!"


	4. Melody

_I think this one is my favorite so far :-) _

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Prompt: Melody

Abby couldn't hold a tune to save her life. It had always been a sore spot for the outgoing goth girl. She had listened to others singing, and wished her voice could soar like theirs could. But growing up in a deaf household, music hadn't really had much of an emphasis. Plus, she always joked, she had probably lost all the musical hearing she had listening to ear-splitting death metal.

She was embarrassed by her lack of talent, and didn't often sing. McGee kept trying to get her to open up about it. After all, not everyone could be a pop star. It was a mark of how comfortable she was with him that sometimes, on long car rides, she would sing along with McGee to the radio, adding her off-key alto to his rich baritone.

_"Standing on your mama's porch, you told me that you'd wait forever. Ooooh, and when you held my hand, I knew that it was now or never. Those were the best days of my life!" _

Abby giggled as the song came to an end.

"Play it again, Tim," she instructed him.

"We've played it four times already. I didn't know you were such a huge Bryan Adams fan," McGee complained.

Abby pouted.

"Come on, I'm almost getting it!"

With a laugh, McGee hit the repeat button.

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McGee woke suddenly, the memory of Abby's singing on their last trip still lingering as the dream faded. He rolled over, reaching for Abby in the dark. Her side of the bed was empty, and growing cold. He glanced at the clock: 2:46. With the little sleep she was getting these days, she should be still in bed.

With a sigh, McGee got up. Whatever she was doing, he would try to convince her to get some sleep. Poking his head out of the bedroom door, McGee heard a peculiar sound. A soft, off-key singing drifted from down the hall.

McGee pushed the blankets away, and padded out of the room, following the sound. McGee leaned against the doorpost and drank in the sight before him.

Abby was standing by the window, her face turned towards the black-curtained glass. In her long nightgown, with her hair tumbling about her shoulders and the soft moonlight illuminating her every curve, she was breathtaking. McGee thought that she had never looked more like an angel than she did now.

She was rhythmically patting the back of the newborn baby she held against her shoulder, swaying gently as she sang.

"_Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City? I'm a thousand miles away bit girl tonight you look so pretty, yes do you. Time's Square can't shine as bright as you. I swear it's true." _

As ever, her singing was off-key. But there was such beauty in her gentle crooning, such elegance in the way she swayed from side to side, soothing the infant with the motion and soft sound.

She may not have been the best singer in the world, but right at that moment, with his wife singing his newborn daughter to sleep, it was the most beautiful melody McGee had ever heard.


	5. Name

Prompt: Name

"Abby?" McGee called, pausing at the door of her lab. "Abby, are you there?"

The lights were on and the computers humming, but Abby seemed to be conspicuously absent from her usual domain.

McGee frowned. He needed those autopsy reports on Sergeant Shaw right away, and Ducky said that Abby had them. He winced at the earful Gibbs would give him if he didn't have them in the next five minutes.

With a sigh, he walked past the lab part of the room and into Abby's office. She would forgive him if he looked around a bit. The papers were probably sitting right on the top of her desk anyways.

McGee glanced at Abby's desk, and made a face. There were papers _everywhere! _How was he supposed to find anything in all this mess? Coming around to stand behind the desk, and pushing her chair out of the way, he began to sift through the various scraps of papers.

It was just his luck that Abby was a note-taker. There were post-its everywhere and bits of paper with her scrawled handwriting all over them. Reports, forms, lab results, and scrap paper were all jumbled haphazardly in several piles.

"Really, Abby. You're not usually this bad," McGee chided softly, lifting papers and looking under them for the missing autopsy report. He glanced under a pile of requisition forms and saw the familiar pattern of an autopsy report.

"Ahah!" he said, lifting the offending documents up triumphantly. Another piece of paper got dislodged from the messy piles, and drifted to the floor. McGee reached down to pick it up, glancing at the untidy scrawl on it as he did.

He put the autopsy reports down and gaped.

All over the page, in Abby's slanting handwriting, were signatures.

_ASM _

_Abby McGee _

_Abby Scutio McGee _

_Abigail McGee _

_A. McGee _

Over and over they were written, some crossed out, some rewritten many times with flourishes.

McGee was frozen to the spot in shock. Abby was writing her name with _his_? She was trying out _his_ last name? Did that mean that she was reconsidering? Considering him as a potential romantic candidate again? A goofy smile spread over McGee's face at the thought.

The distinctive sound of platform boots against the linoleum of the floor jarred McGee out of his revelry. He had just enough time to shove the scrap of paper into his pocket before his favorite goth came around the corner.

"McGee! Whatcha doing lurking in my office? And why do you look so guilty?" Abby asked.

"I'm looking for Sergeant Shaw's autopsy reports," McGee said. "Ducky said that he gave them to you and Gibbs wants them. Besides, I don't look guilty."

"McGee," Abby said, with patience. "In most things you do innocent really well, but not when it comes to hiding things from me. Come on, fess up."

"Just came for the autopsy reports, I swear," McGee said. And that was true, strictly speaking.

Abby gave him a long and calculating look. Then, she pointed one long, black-nailed finger at the papers right in front of him.

"They're right in front of you," she deadpanned."

McGee grasped them.

"Yeah, thanks," he said, walking past her at a bit of a rush.

"Fine, don't tell me," Abby called after him. "I'll only find out anyways."

McGee didn't breathe again until the elevator doors slid shut. Then, the goofy smile returned to his face. Maybe it was time to try again with Abby.


	6. Pain

Prompt: pain

It was Ziva who took the call. McGee had left his cell phone on his desk when he went down to talk to Ducky about Lt. Calvin's autopsy. The phone vibrated, letting off a high-pitched buzzing.

Tony eyed it.

"Tony, don't you dare," Ziva said.

"Why not, Zee-vah?" Tony asked. "If McGeek is dumb enough to leave his phone unattended, then I should have the right to answer it."

"And prank call anyone on the other end?"

Tony shrugged, not denying it.

"It's probably Abby wanting peanut butter mangoes or something like that."

The phone vibrated again.

Tony surged forward, but Ziva beat him to it. Darn her and her ninja skills!

Shooting Tony a look of triumph, Ziva snapped the phone open.

"Special Agent McGee's phone," she answered.

_"Ziva?" _Abby's slightly panicked voice sounded on the other end.

"Abby?" Ziva said. "Is everything alright?"

_"Where's McGee?" _Abby asked.

"Downstairs in autopsy. You didn't answer my question. Are you alright?"

_"No, I don't think I am," _Abby said.

Fear coiled in the pit of Ziva's stomach.

"What's wrong? Is it the baby?" she asked. Beside her, leaning close so he could hear, Tony's face showed all the worry she felt.

_"You could say that,"_ Abby continued. _"My water just broke." _

Ziva stood in shocked silence for a moment, absorbing that information.

"But you're not due for another three weeks," Tony said, snatching the phone from Ziva.

_"Try telling that to my baby." _

Ziva seized the phone back from Tony.

"Have you called the ambulance yet?"

_"Yeah, it's on its way. Listen, I need Tim here, ASAP." _

Tony had already taken off like a shot, pressing the elevator button frantically.

"Tony's already on his way," Ziva promised.

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McGee fidgeted. He couldn't help it. Every few second he would shift in his seat, or fiddle with his seat belt, or try to take deep calming breaths.

"Ok, McDaddy. Either you cut that out, or you're riding in the trunk," Tony said, from beside him.

McGee glared at Tony.

"I'm nervous, ok?" he snapped. "It's not like it's _your_ wife who's in labour right now."

"Everything's going to be fine, McGee," rumbled Gibbs from the driver's seat as he took a sharp left.

They were on their way to the hospital, much faster than the speed limit allowed, but then Gibbs was driving. Ziva had wanted to drive, arguing that she could get them to Bethesda in half the time, but McGee had wanted to be alive for the birth of his child.

"What if we don't get there in time?" McGee asked, almost panicked.

"It is Abby's first child. Labour always takes a long time for the first," Ziva said authoritatively.

Tony shuddered.

"Too much information."

McGee fidgeted. He just couldn't keep still. Not when his beloved Abby was in labour, all alone, without him. He needed to get to her, and he needed to do it _now._

"McGee! You're doing it again!" Tony whined.

"DiNozzo!" Barked Gibbs. "Lay off. Being a father for the first time is nerve-wracking."

"Sorry, boss," DiNozzo answered automatically.

McGee would have felt grateful for Gibbs' defense, but his thoughts had already returned to Abby, and their child.

They screeched to a halt outside the hospital doors.

"You go, I'll park and catch up," Gibbs instructed.

McGee nearly leaped out of the door. Ziva and Tony were close behind him. He forced himself to take measured steps, to calm down.

The woman at the front desk smiled pleasantly at him.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Wow, she's hot," Tony said under his breath.

Ziva gave him a death glare.

"For a receptionist," Tony muttered.

"My wife is in labour," McGee stuttered.

The receptionist gave Ziva an appraising look.

"Oh really," she said.

Ziva smirked.

"She called us to tell us she was being taken here. Perhaps you could tell us her room number?" Ziva said smoothly.

The corners of the receptionist's mouth twitched up.

"Name?" she asked, fingers poised on the keyboard.

"Abigail McGee," McGee said.

She typed it in.

"Ah, yes. Admitted a half hour ago, in room 243, Maternity ward. And… congratulations," she said to McGee.

McGee gave her a weak smile.

"Thanks," he said, and started walking.

"I'm going to stay here and tell Gibbs where Abby is," Tony said, winking at the receptionist, who turned slightly pink.

McGee was already walking down the hall. Ziva walked beside him to the elevators, where they waited for the next set of metal doors to slide open.

"You're not nervous, are you McGee?" Ziva asked, with a smile.

McGee laughed.

"No, not at all. I'm just going to go meet a tiny human who is going to rely on me for everything. Nope, no nervous at all."

Ziva smiled.

"You are going to make a wonderful father, McGee," she said assuringly.

"How do you know?" he asked.

Ziva shook her head.

"You are kind and caring and you have much love to give. I know that you will be able to handle anything that this child throws to you."

"Throws _at_ you," McGee corrected, a small smile forming.

"Exactly. You and Abby are going to make excellent parents, McGee, I'm sure of it."

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"So then I decided that I wasn't going to take no for an answer, even if it was from gravity."

McGee held Abby's hand, and waited for her to continue. She was dressed in an uncomfortable looking hospital gown, and her fringe was plastered to her forehead with sweat.

"You jumped off the roof, didn't you?" he asked with a smile.

"Yup. And I broke my arm. But I still hold the score as Abby: 1, Gravity: 0."

McGee laughed, and then winced as Abby clutched his hand. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she gave a sharp intake of breath.

"Another contraction?" he asked.

Abby nodded.

"They're coming closer together now."

"I think that's a good sign," McGee said.

"For you maybe!" she said. "It _hurts_. Have I told you what I'm going to do to you when this is all over, McGee?"

McGee nodded his head solemnly.

"Most of it involves medieval torture devices."

"You bet it does. Don't you ever come near me again, Tim McGee, and I mean it!"

Another contraction hit her, and she winced in pain.

"Owie, owie, owwwwie!" she hissed.

"You can yell, you know," McGee said.

Abby let herself relax against her pillows.

"I don't want my baby's first sound to be its mommy yelling in pain."

"But it's going to be worth it in the end," McGee assured her.

Abby gave him a dazzling smile.

"Oh yeah. It's going to be worth it," she agreed.


End file.
